Just what the title says.. ScarJo replaces Emily Blunt as the Black Widow and Mickey Rourke will play a still unknown Russian villain.

This marks Scarlett Johansson’s THIRD comic book movie turn, following GHOST WORLD and THE SPIRIT. She’s a tiny bit better than Blunt for Natasha–although her turn in THE SPIRIT did not inspire confidence, we will not hold it against her– but still a youngish ingenue where an experienced woman should be cast. In our fangirl opinion, of course.

But you betcha she will fill out that spandex just right! Nothing wrong with that.

Rourke, of course, is perfect casting for whatever he wants to do. We hear the ending features him flying off a rope at Tony Stark.

Whiplash? A guy with a whip is fighting Iron Man? Like a modern, high tech. computer added, thick armored Iron Man? Not the old 60’s guy who wore a mesh suit and had a bad heart and got his ass kicked by…well…everyone.

And this sets up the inevitable awesomeness of a Deadpool vs. Black Widow film, a full-on geeked out version of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith tale that will feature brain-melting Scar-Jo against her brain-melting hubabub Ryan Reynolds.

That’s right, they are both hotter than shit and I would pay a lot of money to see that.

If Rourke is playing Whiplash, here’s hoping they use the Metallica song of the same name in the film. One of my favorite aspects of the first IM flick was its Bill & Ted-esque metal soundtrack, so they better build on it in 2!

Whiplash was, over the course of Iron Man’s various titles, one of his more effective opponents, I thought, because writers had him use the whip to threaten Stark physically in ways that other opponents did not. As Iron Man’s armor evolved (?) though, the whip became more and more simplistic and primitive, comparatively. Busiek’s Whiplash was something of a joke. I’d be surprised if Whiplash could be made into an effective opponent for the cinematic Iron Man.

I think it could be done with some visual creativity. Think what was done with Elasti-girl versus Mister Fantastic. Instead of just being a rubber guy, Elasti-girl was a leaping gymnast, taking out bad guys from impossible angles and able to outmanuver bigger critters and superior numbers.

If it’s just a guy with a whip, then yeah, might be flat. I’d hope for more than that, though.

One of the more interesting aspects about the Black Widow is that she’s been defined by wisdom, experience and knowledge as much as ass-kicking. She’s technically in her 60s but thanks to comic book magic she appears as someone in her 30s with all the experience benefits age delivers. Cynical, pragmatic and political (borderline left-wing), she’s a wonderfully rich and engaging character.

She’s more of a throwback to actresses such as Kathleen Turner, Jane Fonda or performers of a similar grit and sexiness in their prime. The closest live-action approximation of Black Widow I’ve seen is Lena Olin’s character on “Alias,” which was so dead on that it’s hard to see how he character wasn’t inspired by Natasha in some way.

Which makes it absolutely fascinating that Hollywood – in all its great wisdom – has chosen a doe-eyed, flighty, puffy, post-sorority nymphette to play one of the smartest and most dangerous women in comics. I’ve yet to see a performance where she played anything deeper than a naive ingenue, certainly not with success. Try reading one page of Richard K. Morgan’s knockout “Black Widow” miniseries (either volume) and try to imagine the dazed Johanssen filling those shoes.

“Iron Man 2” has lost a great deal of credibility in my eyes with this bit of pandering miscasting. Not to mention a great deal of my enthusiasm.

“The addition of Scarlett Johansson will help Box Office. She tends to make things levitate.”

That’s how Hollywood thinks? … after all, IRON MAN only made over 300 million.

The Black Widow should be played by an older, darker woman. Paul Gulacy seemed to define her very well in his illustrations.

Certain actresses seem to gain a Hollywood “street cred,” and get cast in numerous comic films. Mendes, Johassen, Alba — Jessica Alba wasn’t so bad, but the appearance of either Mendes or Johanssen almost guarantees a bad film.